Category Archives: Santa Monica Airport

Last Tuesday Airport2Park was up late at a City Council meeting advocating for more parks and a new Parks Master Plan which would include the 12 acre Airport Park Expansion and ultimately a Great Park to replace Santa Monica Airport when it closes at the end of 2028.
The agenda item was passed!

On the very next morning our community and neighbors were rewarded with peace and quite for the first time in years with the airport is CLOSED for runway shortening. Additionally now a federal judge this past Monday dismissed a case challenging the agreement between the City of Santa Monica and the Federal Aviation Administration regarding the immediate shortening of the runway at Santa Monica Airport and the closure of the airport after 2028. Link

Have you noticed how quiet it has been? We sure have!

Click image to find out more about Airport2Park

The runway shortening process will create a runway safety area where there is currently none to make our community safer. This current temporary airport closure will last until December 23rd to complete construction. When the airport reopens this will exclude some of larger jets from using the airport and move the runway’s ongoing harmful impacts 750′ away from people’s home. Though obviously there is more to be done, we are excited to see this step in the right direction .

One next step is to continue the process by advocating for the City Council’s vote to remove all the excess asphalt at the ends of the shortened runway and replace it with grassy open space that could include pedestrian and bicycle paths.

This is yet one more in a series of important step towards repurposing SMO into a future Great Park that EVERYONE can enjoy.

Santa Monica is moving forward with two positive projects which should improve the quality of life for our community.

1st the City is currently shortening the Airport runway by 1500′ so that it will become safety compliant and to exclude larger jets. This runway shortening project might also provide the opportunity for additional new park access space at the ends of the runway.

SMO is now closed to all air traffic from 9pm-7am and will close ENTIRELY for two weeks at the end of the year until the runway shortening project is completed.

2nd the 12 acres of the Airport Park Expansion currently being designed by noted park designer Mark Rios, has moved forward to the important Environmental Impact Report stage. The park design will include full size playing fields, pickle ball courts, community gardens, playgrounds, walking paths and will provide much needed new recreational resources and opportunities for our community.

GREAT NEWS!

Meanwhile the six acres of “Interim Open Space” is now open for everybody to use! And it is getting used!

This new public space is located adjacent to the current Dog Park on the future site of the Santa Monica Airport Park Expansion while it is being planned. It is the perfect place to walk, jog, ride a bike, skateboard or push a scooter without any obstruction or traffic. It is especially perfect for kids learning to ride a bike. The 6 acres are open sunset to sunrise. Enter from the lot behind the playing fields. Check it out!

Music, games and Ice Cream! A “pop-up” Bike Lane, free helmets and helmet decorating plus a bike obstacle and safety course by Santa Monica Spoke for the Kids!
See the event HERE!

click to see full size flyer

17th Street is experiencing an increase in the number of people walking and biking. People are using the street for neighborhood trips as well as to get to and from the Expo Light Rail station at 17th and Colorado. Members of the community have reached out to say they don’t feel comfortable walking or biking at night or during the early morning along 17th Street. The City is working towards adding safety improvements along 17th Street from Pico Boulevard to Wilshire Boulevard and Michigan Avenue from 14th Street to 19th Street to help address the safety concerns.

Goals:
The goal for the project is to address community concerns and help people feel more safe and comfortable to walk or bike. Another goal of the project is to respond to requests to have the street feel more like a neighborhood street and less of a cut-through street.

The project proposes to improve the pedestrian lighting, create better crosswalks and make people who bike more visible and better protected. Help us make 17th Street safer and more comfortable for everyone.

We had a GREAT DAY of Celebrating and Bike Riding Saturday!

Click the image to go to flickr Photo Gallery or side arrows to advance embedded gallery here!

• The official Parks Day, Come Play! started at 10am with Grand Opening Ceremonies at the new Ishihara Park• The ride activities followed after the Dedication Celebrations at Gandara Park around 11:30am with the February Ride with the Mayor and our Picnic Ride –

RALLY FOR SATURDAY IS STILL ON

North Side of Douglas Loop North
(between 28th St. and 31st St. – near the Business Park off of Ocean Park Blvd)

You are invited, along with friends, family and neighbors to come out and show support and unity to stop the continuation of the extreme harmful impacts from Santa Monica Airport (SMO).

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS will include: Santa Monica Mayor Ted Winterer, Congressman Ted Lieu, Los Angeles Council MemberMike Bonin and other political representatives, as well as community activists from Santa Monica, Ocean Park, Venice, West Los Angeles and Mar Vista.

While the settlement agreement of the law suit with the FAA has been announced, allowing The City of Santa Monica to close SMO December 31st 2028 (still 12 years away) – The urgency for this protest is because due to start February 2017, JetSuite – funded by JetBlue is scheduled to begin offering commercial jet service of 30 seat jets out of Santa Monica Airport. SMO has short 5000′ runway that is not designed for jets and has no safety runway area to protect immediately adjacent neighborhoods and homes.

UPDATE: JetSuiteX Delays Service to Santa Monica AirportIRVINE, Calif., Feb. 1, 2017 JetSuiteX announced today that they have entered into a Standstill Agreement with the city of Santa Monica concerning JetSuiteX’s planned operations at Santa Monica Airport. The agreement is designed to give the parties time to come to a final agreement. Flights to Santa Monica Airport were originally scheduled to launch on February 6th, with destinations including Carlsbad, San Jose and Las Vegas. In the interim, JetSuiteX has agreed not to operate at Santa Monica prior to February 15th, 2017. To avoid uncertainty and confusion, JetSuiteX has cancelled all flights to/from or connecting through Santa Monica from February 6th through February 24(th) and will issue full refunds for all affected customers.CEO Alex Wilcox said, “Given the uncertainty surrounding the status of the airport we have entered into this standstill agreement to provide time for an orderly process to negotiate with the city. We apologize to our clients…”

This new service was scheduled prior to the recent settlement and at a time when the Santa Monica City Council has moved to evict Atlantic Aviation the jet service provider. The Council has voted unanimously to protect our community and neighbors and reduce the harmful impacts of the airport by closing it as soon as legally possible. Santa Monica has committed to a vision to replace SMO with a healthy and sustainable park that would be open to all and accessible to everyone.

According to SMO records, in recent months jet flights out of the airport have increased dramatically to where the city is now pumping over 3 million gallons of aviation fuel and generating up to 60 million lbs. of C02 annually. Currently at this shocking 15% annual rate of increase – jet flights, noise and pollution would increase by a massive 100% by 2023 presuming existing airport configuration. In the City’s announcement of the settlement with the FAA it was stated the City of Santa Monica is within its legal rights to immediately plan and reduce of the current length of the runway to 3500′. This length of runway is too short and would prevent flights of many (current) jet aircraft under FAA rules. Find our more at the rally this Saturday.

The it of Santa Monica has been making progressive strides toward protecting the environment and continuing its leadership by making Santa Monica a more sustainable place to live, work and play. This is exemplified with the launch of Breeze, LA first public bike share, opening of Metro’s new Expo Line and updated Big Blue Bus service connections. The aviation industry (without regards to the safety and against the wishes of the community or the City) want to transform the existing, small general aviation airport into a major – unsafe commercial airport.